The Cowboy Blues
by PaladinTersias
Summary: After witnessing a tragic death, it is obvious that Spike is not his self. Can anyone teach him how to love again?
1. Prologue to a Cowboy's Tale

**Hey All. I do believe this is my first Cowboy Bebop fanfic, which is totally uncool because Bebop is the coolest anime EVAR. Anywho, please ignore the horridness of this. It's just a little prologue to the story I'm going to try really hard to write. The fanfiction is probably going to have Yaoi (I haven't decided pairings yet). So read at your own risk. I don't own any of the characters or anything, to my utter dismay. Enjoy!**

If there was one thing Spike was sure of, it was that he was in danger. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't go so far as to admit something of that calibur, but the circumstances were far from normal. A sharp wind bit at his face and tore at the tattered cloth that was once his clothing. Cold water dripped from somewhere, it's scent old and stagnant. Every muscle, every inch of his skin either ached or bled. Somewhere far off, a dog howled. But none of that was important. It was the woman who stood above him with a gun to his head that made him realize the true danger in his situation.

"Spike Speigel." She cooed, keeping the gun to his head but moving around to kneel in front of his face. Her dress was just short enough so that when she kneeled, he could see up to her panties. The dress itself was rather unspectacular. It had a draped neckline and flowing sleeves, but it was cropped short at mid-thigh and dyed a muddy brown. But she was a real looker, and always had been. Every year they had been together he had believed that, but it was dawning on him that looks really weren't everything. "It's been a while. How's Jet?" Her head titled to the side, like an innocently confused puppy. He almost bought into her act.

Almost. "What are you doing here?" He asked, his heart thumping uncomfortably in his chest. He was well aware of the things she was capable of, and whether he liked to admit it or not, she was much stronger than him. Maybe not in the physical sense, but over the years, she had developed an incredibly strong mind, which she always used to her advantage. The dog that had been howling stopped, and somewhere even farther, there was a response. Spike's heart raced again, and he started to shiver. "Faye..."

"What am I doing here?" Faye growled. "I'm running from the mess that you put me in. I'm running from the bounty on my head." She stood quickly, holding the gun up to her face, almost as if in thought. A drop of water fell onto her face and trickled down, like a tear. Or, perhaps, it actually was a tear. Spike wasn't sure. "Spike... How could you do that to me, after everything we'd been through?" She turned so she face half toward him, her lips pressed to the gun.

"Faye..." He whispered. "I'm so sorry... I didn't.." He shook his head. He stared up at her eyes, her unkempt hair, and frowned. She was blaming him for her downward spiral, and in a way, that was fair. He had, unknowingly, put the bounty on her head, though it wasn't meant for her in the first place. He was set up, and he had never had the chance to tell her because she left. The whole Bebop disbanded, and he had never gotten the chance to tell her the truth. Now, he was going to die, and by the hand of his former love. He cursed the fates, whatever those were, and continued to stare at her, his expression sad. "If you knew the truth... Please Faye, let me tell you..."

She let out a harsh laugh and glared down at him. "I wouldn't believe the filth from your mouth even if it was the truth. You ruined me, Spike Spiegel!" She kneeled down to him, tracing the gun down his jawline. The way she looked at him broke his heart, like he really had ruined everything. Like he really did deserve to die. He felt his eyes burn as tears came to them, falling down his face and past his ears. Faye didn't notice. Her eyes were unfocused. "I wish this could end some other way." She whispered. She moved the gun quickly to sit between his eyes, and her finger squeezed down on the trigger.

_BANG!_

There was a sudden flash of light. Spike had heard of it before, a certain heaven that was rumored to appear when a person died. But in the rumors, it had stayed long enough for the person to move on, move towards it, anything. But he found himself stuck, and the light gone. And suddenly

_WHOOMP!_

Every ounce of air left in his lungs was forced out in a sharp wheeze as Faye fell forward. Her chin hit his with a _crack_ and he groaned as sharp pain filled his mouth. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn't dead and that it wasn't Faye who shot him. Someone shot Faye, and ultimately saved his life but...

He opened his eyes, which he had squeezed shut sometime before the gunshot. And he looked at the lifeless, blank stare of Faye. She seemed almost at peace, at least compared to the insanity that had taken over after she had left the Bebop. Still, Spike could not stand the sight or her lifeless eyes, her dead body. His stomach heaved and he threw up the contents of his stomach. As he rolled away from the fresh vomit, he heard footsteps.

Someone kneeled down, checking Faye's pulse. Her weight was pulled from Spike's body and for a few moments, he could hear her being dragged away. When the sound stopped, he heard the footsteps again and turned his head weakly. He couldn't quite make out the face though, even when the man leaned down to inspect his face.

"You look like Hell, Spike Spiegel." He said. "Aw man, you look like hell."

The voice was familiar but Spike couldn't place it. "W-who are you?"

The man chuckled dryly. "You don't even recognize your old pal Jet?"


	2. A Bounty To Catch

**If you read the first version of this chapter, you might agree that it was kinda horrible. Maybe. So I rewrote it, hopefully better. I'll get to work on chapter three sometime tonight or tomorrow. Until then, Enjoy!**

Jet typed furiously at the keyboard, his eyes set on the screen before him. Names and pictures and profiles came and passed as he scrolled through, seemingly looking for something very important. He cursed silently under his breath after every page that he didn't find what he was looking for. It wasn't until the ninth page that he found it, quietly cheering to himself. He clicked on the profile and a page opened up with all the information the government ever had on her.

Faye's Bounty.

Spike had mentioned something about it being the reason she had tried to kill him, but since the Cowboys of the Bebop had disbanded, he had no idea what she had done. He hadn't even checked the bounty board since then, so naturally as he read, he was incredibly surprised. Apparently, according to Spike (but not the information on her bounty) she was framed for smuggling an illegal drug called Red-Eye to a major crime syndicate in Ganymede. The bounty wouldn't have been so high if she hadn't also been affiliated with a dangerous Terrorist named Gehno Vicente. Of course, she had nothing to do with the entire thing, and Spike knew that much. He had also been framed in the sense that someone had called in her bounty with his name.

The bounty in front of him told him a different story about a girl named Faye Valentine, who was driven to follow Vicente's orders because her mind had slowly decayed over the years. They believed she was insane, a bloodthirsty animal who used the very drug she smuggled. Which was untrue in every aspect. If she had ever used Red-Eye, the Bebop would have known. Jet scowled. The information was completely unrealistic, completely wrong, but people bought into it. They bought into the money that they were offered, and that made Jet sick.

He closed out of the window, but kept the bounties up. As he stood to leave, he turned his head to notice Spike in the doorway. "Oh... Hey Spike."

"You know, you talk to yourself a lot when you look at bounties." He said in response. "Which is why I've come upon the conclusion that you're a hypocrite. You can't say that the people who hunted Faye are sick and then hunt someone for the same reason. It all boils down to one thing. Money." He took a seat on the couch and looked up at Jet with a smile. It wasn't all the way there, but it was the closest Spike had come to an emotion since Faye's death.

Jet sat back down in his chair with a frown. "You're a real party pooper, you know. How long were you standing there?" They regarded each other silently for a few moments. A clock ticked loudly somewhere in a different room. The sound of the engine seemed unnaturally loud. Time seemed to move slowly, the tension thick. The spell was broken by the sound of Spike's voice.

"Long enough." He said. "To see you look her up. To see you get angry over the lies." He leaned his head back to rest against the back of the couch and he looked at the ceiling. The same ceiling he had always known and the same ceiling that had always protected him. He sighed deeply and looked back to Jet, who wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Long enough..." He mumbled. "I'm sorry Spike... about her."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault." Spike said. "Vicious was behind the whole thing. He set me up, he set her up. He knew this would happen." There was another bout of silence.

"You say it with your words, but not your heart Spike Spiegel."

"Yeah, well, I say a lot of things with only my words, Jet Black."

They stood.

Without another word, they left the room.

.:-+-:.

The bar was a place for Spike and Jet to relax, and had been since before Faye had even come into the picture. It was typical for them to go after a bounty or after a long day, as a sort of vacation for a few hours. So, when they left the room, they also left the Bebop and before long, they found themselves at their usual spot. Neither of them had to say a word to the barkeep, who, when the sat down, slid them both their usual beverages.

As they sipped, they listened to the rumors that were thrown carelessly into the air. it was hard to distinguish one from the other, at least for most people. Spike and Jet had become experts over the years and immediately caught on to mostly useless information. There was one voice, however, that caught their attention. It was deep and curt, accented heavily. If it wasn't for Jet's sharp ear and knowledge of most foreign languages, the information probably would have been just as useless as everything else.

"...Yeah, he's an idiot. If there's anything that you shouldn't do these days, it's get caught up in the Red-Eye business. Nobody makes it out anymore, not since that girl..." They immediately knew which girl the man was talking about, but didn't comment. Instead they listened on. "But he wouldn't hear me out and now look at him. Thirty Million woolong bounty on his head for smuggling the stuff. They're really busting down on the red-eye." someone at the same table as the man cleared their throat and asked something unintelligible. "Reno Abelard." The older man replied.

And that was all Jet and Spike needed to know.

"I'm about to be really hypocritical in saying this," Jet said, almost sarcastically, "But that sounds like a bounty we need to capture. And i'm going to put money on the table that smuggling Red-Eye wasn't his only offense." Spike nodded in agreement, but his eyes were elsewhere, his gaze unfocused. He was thinking, Jet figured, and whatever it was that he happened to be thinking about was very important. "What're you thinking about?"

"I don't know. The name seems familiar. I can't quite place it though..." He shrugged, "But I don't see why we shouldn't go after him. You're running out of food worth eating." They both chuckled lightly for a few moments, and then, almost at the same time, they finished their drinks. Jet raised his hand to get the attention of the barkeep, who brought them each another drink. "And if we keep this up, we'll be broke by morning."

"Yeah... After this we should get back to the Bebop. I'll have to do a little research, find out where this guy was last. Boy do I miss Edward."

"Where is she, anyway?"

"I don't know, to he honest. I haven't seen her since we all split up. I hope she's doing well..." He paused, "I'll bet she's just waiting for the right time to hack our computers and say hey!" They both laughed.

Their faces were twisted into smiles as they finished their drinks, and the good feelings the bar always gave them followed them back to the Bebop.

.:-+-:.

"Ey Spike, check this out." Jet called from the computer.

Spike sauntered over and leaned to read the text on the screen. Every bit of Abelard's information, real and made-up was plastered to the bounty list. Nothing seemed very exceptional about him, except for the fact that he was corrupted into smuggling Red-Eye and he murdered three or four people. There wasn't any information on bodyguards or anything especially dangerous for that matter. So the bounty would be a piece of cake.

"This guy's a damned fool, and this bounty is ours." Jet said. "We'll leave first thing in the morning. but for now, let's go to sleep."

They nodded to each other and left to do just that.

.:-+-:.

The computer screen flickered to black, and a smiley appeared.

White text plastered itself against the black.

"It's a Trap"


End file.
